HOCKEY AT HARVARD

The suggestion in an accompanying letter to provide more suitable hockey facilities opens subject of major importance. The present use of the Boston Garden by Harvard as the home rink for the University hockey teams cannot be considered a satisfactory arrangement.

The letter writer urges better attention to the outdoor rinks on Soldiers Field in order that hockey which is publicized as the leading winter sport may become truly intramural. This recommendation is entirely sound in view of the greater emphasis which will be placed upon other than first-string teams with the development of inter-House athletics. If at present there is a lethargic, attitude among hockey players in undergraduate ranks, nevertheless the improvement of outdoor facilities will not only encourage the sport, but will enable those to play, who now lack facilities.

Of greater import in the future, however, is the question of establishing a home rink for the University teams in Cambridge. Financially and in other ways, the Athletic Association is both dependent upon and too closely connected with the Boston Garden, a purely professional enterprise. Because of the present situation, the Harvard hockey team is viewed in the light of an attraction for hockey fans, regardless of their interest in either Harvard of amateur sport. That Harvard is a bonanza for the proprietors of the Boston rink, is palpable. The placement of all University sport activities in Cambridge is necessary if they are to be placed in their proper relation to the public. Both the financial entanglements with the North Station arena offices and the drawing of. non-student audiences are undesirable.

No easy or immediate solution can be found. Indoor rinks are costly, very costly. But the Athletic Association is conducting a successful football business. It may be said that the accumulated profits are scant, for so large an enterprise. Yet they are regular; they are insured by the persistent interest in football. As long as the surplus is not being used to provide athletic facilities or free blanket admissions to students, they should be used in the promotion of sports as free from professional taint as possible. During the next decade Harvard would do well to consider the possibility of erecting an indoor rink on its own premises.